I don’t have a baby in this fight, but I looked up the Nosefrida out of curiosity (and what a gross yet genius idea) - did you guys also see the “shove this valve up farty Baby’s ass” tool? What a combination of hilarious and “my god why didn’t we have this when I used to babysit my colicky niece?”
Back from the doctor. Both ears are infected, so she got amoxicillin. Thank god! We’re looking at a much better baby in 24 hours, right? She took the first dose like a trooper. She kind of likes medicine.
Zsofia–I’ll gladly be thrown up on and have considered sucking the snot out of her nose with my own mouth, but the fart tool I didn’t need to know about.
Oh, suck. But yes, you should have a much happier camper on your hands very soon. And one who’s a lot more comfortable lying down, probably. Just be careful not to mix up her medicine with yours (yours is the one with the twist of lime) and you should be good to go.
Yay for Da Pink Stuff! (Which is what we still call it in our house, despite it’s stubbornly being white the last time we got it.)
Yes, she should be feeling somewhat better in 24 hours, but it’s not going to be a full recovery in that period of time. Don’t worry, by the time your cold is full blown, she’ll be feeling better and want to play all day and all night. 
(You know, it’s perfectly cromulent to hire a babysitter to sit with her for a few hours while you sleep, especially when you’re sick and she’s feeling better.)
Yes. She’ll feel much better, and be able to sleep. This means that YOU will be able to sleep, too, so you’ll feel much better. You might consider using a hot water bottle on her ears, alternating the sides. This will improve the circulation to the ears, which means that the medicine gets there quicker, and the infection will go away quicker. Plus the warmth just soothes the earache. I can’t remember if babies are supposed to have heating pads or not. You do have to be careful about heating pads, as the baby can’t tell you if she gets too warm.
Amoxicillin is cheap, powerful, and babies and little kids mostly like the taste. I’m allergic to it, but by Og I’m glad it’s available, it makes the world a better place.
Welcome to my world, as they say. Our 8-month old has nearly constantly had some sort of upper respiratory infection since…oh…October. That’s the price you pay for daycare. (Well, that and thousands of dollars a year.)
I’ll concur with the wisdom of the thread so far. Snot sucker and saline spray for sure. Both can require two adults for restraint, especially now that he’s got superhuman strength. We though he was powerful at 3 or 4 months…we had NO idea.
We’ve never had as much luck with dripping the saline, we just hold him upright and spray away. We do it after sucking as much snot out as possible, so the spray doesn’t ram it up there more. He actually tolerates it now, and with mom’s hands on either side of his head keeping him steady, I can give two squirts in each nostril in about 5 seconds. He does NOT, however, tolerate the bulb syringe. Small victories, I suppose.
Electric heating pads are not recommended for infant use, because they can’t tell you when it feels too hot and don’t have the muscle coordination to move off the hot thing consistently.
I’d use one of those rice or buckwheat hull stuffed “snakes” that you can microwave for moist heat. It can be gently wrapped around her shoulders while you’re holding her and keeping a close eye and touch on the heat. It won’t gain in heat after you put it on, only cool off gradually.
Here’s a super easy how-to for making one with materials you probably have at home. Or you can pick one up in the pharmacy when you go to restock the gin.
My 11-month-old just got over his cold, but collected a double ear infection. The wife brought him in tot he ER at 10pm last night to confirm. I feel your pain.